Farm Share Stir Fry

It was my turn to go to the farm today to pick up the share and, well, I'm just overwhelmed with greens!

Here's the tally: 1 head of lettuce, 1 bowl spinach, 2 kohlrabi, 1 head bok choi, 4 squashes, 3 cucumbers, 6 beets with their greens, swiss chard, 1 bunch each of parsley and cilantro, 2 quarts of snap peas, 30 pods of fava beans and a quart of snow peas.  I was supposed to get other herbs and 15 flowers but it just seemed like too much.  Oh, and I got almost half a cup of mallow peas.

After extracting the mallow whites from the mallow peas, I made a salad and a stir fry for dinner.  The salad was the lettuce, some of the spinach, peas (the snow peas were older, so I just shucked out the peas as if they were shell peas) and cucumber.  To make the stir fry I marinated sliced beef in soy sauce with cornstarch, ginger and white pepper.  When I was ready, I fried it in the wok until it was just starting to get done and the sauce was thickening.  Then the vegetables were added:  garlic scapes, red pepper, snap peas, the boiled mallow peas and 2 of the squashes.  This was cooked for a few minutes until everything was tender and served over soba noodles.

In addition, I marinated the fava beans with chopped garlic scapes, red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.  That's for tomorrow.  After dinner, I made another batch of those mallow forgotten cookies, also for tomorrow.

This leaves me with:  bok choi, spinach, chard, beet greens, beets, kohlrabi, more snap peas, a cucumber, parsley, cilantro, and leftover salad.  We have a lot to cook/eat in the next few days!

Forgotten Mallow Cookies

All those mallow peas I found at the farm share Thursday were put to good use yesterday.  I boiled them, following the instructions in Edible Wild Plants by John Kallas:  for each ounce of mallow peas, 3 ounces of water.  I had 2 ounces, give or take.  This resulted in a very small amount of mucilaginous liquid.  Once cooled, I made a meringue of sorts.  The boiled mallow peas were added to a stir fry I made for dinner from some tofu and more of the farm share veggies:  bok choi, snow peas, scallions, and arugula, served over udon noodles.

In his book, he says he found he needed to use one egg white to start the process of making mallow meringue, so I did the same.  I beat one egg white to the soft peak stage, added 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar and then started adding the mallow liquid ("whites," he calls them) and 2/3 c. sugar for the cookies.  Once this was beaten to the stiff peak stage, I added a teaspoon of vanilla and some chocolate chips.  This was then dropped by the spoonful onto parchment paper and placed in a 350 degree oven, and the oven was turned off.  Overnight, they became cookies!  Mallow cookies!  

Crazy Hot Day at the Farm

Yesterday it was, in New England parlance, a "scorchah!"  At one point the exterior thermometer on my car registered 105.  And I stood in the hot sun at the farm and picked peas and strawberries.  It was grueling.  But, as always, worth it!

The share consisted of: 2 heads of lettuce, 1 bowl of arugula, 1 head of bok choi, 1 head of napa cabbage, 5 garlic scapes, 6 scallions, 1 pint strawberries, 1 pint snow peas, 1 quart snap peas, 1 quart shell peas, and herbs (I took another bunch of cilantro).  As a little bonus the mallow peas were plentiful and I picked about 1/4 cup.  I'm not sure what I'm doing with them yet, but I have them.  I kept all the veggies in the car with me so the air conditioning could keep them fresh(er) in that awful heat.

Dinner last night was a strawberry soup, made with mascarpone, mango juice, and honey, with a cilantro pesto on toast and a salad of arugula, lettuce and freshly shelled peas.  It was way too hot to cook and, on days like that, a cold meal is often best.

The Season of Good Salads

The farm is back!  Today was the first pick up day for the CSA and I have been so excited waiting for it.  Since I started getting a farm share, I've gotten so picky about vegetables that we almost never have salad any other time of the year.

Today's share was:  1 bowl of arugula, 1 bunch of Hakurei turnips, 20 garlic scapes, 1 pint of strawberries and bunches of herbs.  (For that last one, I picked a bunch of cilantro.  The other options were dill and oregano and I didn't see myself using any of them in the near future.)  As an added bonus, we (the 10 year old and I) found mallow peas lurking at the end of the row of cilantro.  We picked as many of those as we could find.  Even with spending a lot of time picking strawberries, buying honey and honey sticks, and wandering all over trying to find the herbs, we managed to get out of there just as the thunder started to sound.

Generally, in the beginning of the season, we get through most of the share in one meal; today was no exception.  We had a salad of arugula, turnips, mallow peas, cilantro, strawberries, and goat cheese, drizzled with balsamic vinegar:

 The rest of the arugula was blanched and used in a risotto, which incorporated the last of the goat cheese (instead of the mascarpone the recipe calls for) and some parmesan in addition to 2 pints of vegetable stock.  I also used garlic scapes instead of shallots.  Served with a steak and some red wine, it was simple and wonderful.

I love the farm.

Obsessions

In a previous life, if there are such things, I'm quite certain I was a butterfly collector.

I have discovered that I pursue unusual foods for canning with the same zeal, nay, obsession, that I imagine nineteenth century entomologists expressed for their quarries.  Once I discover that it is possible to can something, to preserve it in some way, then I must procure it.  It was this way with the paw paws.  The violets and lilacs.  Foraging for a wider variety of foods.  Each time, the internet is my enabler.  I read something on a blog, describing a food I haven't yet tried, or canned, or even considered a food, and off I go.  Obsessed, really.  So is it any surprise that I've been driving around looking for black locust trees, after I found this jelly recipe?

Nope, no surprise to me.  Nor to my husband.  I think he's used to my "quirks."

Mallow peas.  Aren't they cute?

Yesterday I thought I caught a glimpse of some, with reachable blooms, near the house.  Today I walked out to it and, yes, it was a black locust tree.  It was actually four of them, in a row, with just enough blooms within reach for me to make that jelly.  I also stopped by the one and only mallow plant I'd managed to find in all my foraging and grabbed the first few mallow peas.  Those went into a beef stew tonight in an attempt to thicken it.  (We ended up adding flour to thicken it further, as a tablespoon of mallow peas just aren't enough!)

After steeping the locust flowers in boiling water, I drained them and used the liquid to make the jelly.  Repeating it here because then I'll have it in one place:  4 cups flowers, steeped in 3 cups boiling water for at least 8 hours, then drained.  To the liquid add 4 T. strained lemon juice, one box of powdered pectin, and boil.  Add 4 cups sugar, return to a rolling boil for 1 minute and then process in jars for 10 minutes.  I used 4 ounce jars so I can give these as gifts and it made 10 jars and a little extra.

Now that that's out of my system, I wonder what's next?